What does Google say about SEO?

Can Google really figure out that a URL is duplicated without even crawling it?

John Mueller Mar 05, 2021 ★★★

Google uses a predictive approach: if several URLs with a similar structure show the same content, Google learns this pattern and can treat other similar URLs as duplicates without crawling them, in order to save crawl budget.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name Pagination & Structure

Should you really ignore Schema.org for e-commerce product variants?

John Mueller Mar 05, 2021 ★★★

Google does not use Schema.org to manage e-commerce product variants. For SEO, it is preferable to have fewer indexed pages that are stronger, using the canonical to group variants (sizes, colors) to a main product page.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Structured Data E-commerce AI & SEO

Should you really keep 301 redirects for at least a year?

John Mueller Mar 05, 2021 ★★★

Google recommends maintaining 301 redirects for at least one year, ideally longer. After this period, Google should have crawled all old URLs with the redirect at least twice. Less significant URLs that are rarely crawled may require more time.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name Redirects

Should you really use a 410 code instead of a 404 to remove a page from Google's index?

John Mueller Mar 05, 2021 ★★

Google makes a slight distinction between 404 (page temporarily unavailable) and 410 (page permanently removed). The 410 slightly speeds up removal from the index, but the difference is not significant. In the long run, both codes lead to the same re...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Should you really double hreflang with JavaScript for geolocation?

John Mueller Mar 05, 2021 ★★

Beyond hreflang, implement JavaScript detection to show a banner to American users on the European site, offering them the US version. This compensates for cases where hreflang does not work perfectly and intercepts non-search traffic.

AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Local Search Redirects International SEO

Does relevance really outweigh Core Web Vitals in Google?

John Mueller Mar 05, 2021 ★★★

Relevance is still more important than Page Experience in Google ranking. URLs in brand searches continue to be displayed even with poor Core Web Vitals because Google cannot show a third-party blog instead of the official site.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Domain Name Web Performance

Are your structured data sabotaging your Knowledge Panel?

John Mueller Mar 05, 2021 ★★★

For Knowledge Panels, Google requires clear, consistent, and identical data everywhere on the web. Variations in name or inconsistent data can create fragmented entries and weaken the Knowledge Panel. Standardization of external mentions is crucial.

AI & SEO

Why does it take 28 days for your Core Web Vitals to update in Search Console?

John Mueller Mar 05, 2021 ★★★

The Core Web Vitals data displayed in Search Console is based on the Chrome User Experience Report, aggregated over 28 days. This delay is due to the method of data collection and aggregation, not a slow processing time from Search Console.

AI & SEO Web Performance Search Console

Is it really necessary to test your Core Web Vitals in the lab to prevent regressions?

John Mueller Mar 05, 2021 ★★

Google recommends running your own tests in parallel for important pages, using the Page Speed Insights API or third-party tools. Laboratory tests allow for the rapid detection of regressions, even if they differ from real-world data.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Web Performance

Does the crawl budget really depend on your server speed?

John Mueller Mar 05, 2021 ★★★

The crawl budget includes two aspects: the technical limitations of the server and the demand from Google based on the perceived importance of the pages. Even with a fast server, Google may limit crawling if it finds the pages to be of little use.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing JavaScript & Technical SEO

How can you compel Google to refresh your JavaScript and CSS files during rendering?

John Mueller Mar 05, 2021 ★★★

To force Google to update JavaScript and CSS resources during rendering, use a content hash in the URL of the files. This way, Google will identify the new files, unlike persistent cache with identical file names.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name PDF & Files Web Performance

How can you effectively map URLs and verify redirects during migration to avoid losing rankings?

John Mueller Mar 05, 2021 ★★★

During a site migration, it is crucial to trace each old URL to its new destination, verify all redirects, and ensure that all internal signals (rel canonical, navigation, footer) point to the new URLs to facilitate canonicalization.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name Pagination & Structure Redirects

Is it really necessary to change the date of an article with every update?

John Mueller Mar 05, 2021 ★★

Google does not have a specific guideline on when to change dates, but it is recommended to do so only for significant modifications to the main content, not for minor changes like replacing an advertisement in the sidebar.

Content AI & SEO

Does the noindex of variants really contaminate the canonical page?

John Mueller Mar 05, 2021 ★★★

If product variants are set to noindex with a canonical pointing to the main page, the noindex is not transmitted to the canonical page. However, external links pointing to these noindex variants will be lost because Google will not crawl these pages...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing E-commerce AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Does using a canonical tag alone truly control page indexing?

John Mueller Mar 05, 2021 ★★★

Google takes multiple signals into account beyond the canonical tag to determine the canonical page. It may happen that Google still indexes variants despite the canonical, especially during the first crawl. The noindex tag allows you to enforce the ...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Should you worry about having 90% of your site in noindex?

John Mueller Mar 05, 2021 ★★★

A large number of noindex pages or pages returning 404 errors is not seen as a sign of poor quality by Google. Having 90% of pages in noindex is not problematic for SEO.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Should you really implement hreflang right at the launch of a multi-country site with similar content?

John Mueller Mar 05, 2021 ★★★

To launch a USA site separate from the international English site with initially similar content, it is strongly recommended to implement hreflang at least on important pages (homepage, main categories). Without hreflang, the general English site wil...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO International SEO

How does internal linking between language versions really speed up the indexing of a new market?

John Mueller Mar 05, 2021 ★★★

To speed up the SEO of a new linguistic version of a site, creating cross-links between the versions (DE to US, EN to US) on important pages enables the transfer of signals. Without these links, the new version starts at zero.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

How does Google really assess the Core Web Vitals of a page in its search results?

John Mueller Mar 05, 2021 ★★

Core Web Vitals are grouped by page type in Search Console and Chrome UX Report. When a URL appears in the results, Google evaluates its group to determine if it provides a good page experience. Highly visible URLs have a greater impact.

Domain Age & History Domain Name Web Performance Search Console

Why does Google take several months to reward a site's quality improvements?

John Mueller Mar 05, 2021 ★★

After improving a site's quality (reducing advertising, removing low-quality content), the impact on Google traffic requires several months. Google must recrawl, reindex, and recalculate long-term quality signals. There is no fixed monthly recalculat...

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO